… and decides to list pros/cons for the ANIMATIONS of each video in the chorus battle.

Why? Because I want to.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any hurt feelings from reading this. I am not a leading authority on video animations, I just like analyzing animations, so if you happen to be upset, I apologize for making you feel this way. You’re welcome to just ignore this post. There is no favouritism in any of these mini-reviews, etc… but I won’t lie that some videos were harder to find cons for than others, which may result in very nit-picky cons…

A lot of these are rather informal, so again, this is not an official sort of critique or anything blahblahblah

If you want to ask/say anything/insult me, feel free to shoot me an ask or maybe tweet me or sth. I’ll respond to concerns you may have.

【VDA】 ピアノｘフォルテｘスキャンデル

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw9YBtpFX3A

+ I like the textures
+ A lot of good variety
+ Consistent style and colour scheme throughout entire video
- Typeface of the Japanese type does not match the style of the video
- Far too little consistency between the different typefaces of all the nametags
- Chorus Wheel

【Nifleheim Manor】 Unchain

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU-Xz1B6Nm8

+ Tonnes of variety while retaining video style
+ Good transitions (for sections and type)
+ Thank you for remembering to lock to camera when moving those 2D spheres on a 3D plane.
- Intro vastly contrasted the rest of the video’s quality.
- The mass chunk of text at the end is in a type that may be slightly difficult to read.
- At a few parts, the coloured silhouettes are a tiny bit too bright.

【SakuraNoHanabira】 ライトラグ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcfuq0lRUv0

+ I enjoy the summer festival theme for the video
+ Lots of variety
+ I like how the colour choices are similar to the original video.
- Quality of some of the graphics are quite low.
- Backgrounds are slightly overfiltered to the point it does not cohesively fit well with video.
- Lack of Japanese typefaces. (Default typeface isn’t a good choice to roll with)

【Masked☆Melody】 アモーレ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtTYU5sKTZ4

+ I really like your type choices
+ I really like the style of the video
+ Very nice image choices
- Sometimes the glow colours are too strong and clash with one another.
- Some of the anchor points for circular graphics are not properly centred
- Not a huge fan of moving 2D images in a 3D plane in a way that you see how two-dimentional such images are.

【Veiled Vegas】 Jabberwocky Jabberwocka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZtzXE8sTWE

+ Background textures fit the feel of the video well
+ I like how the background changes consistently (verses all have the same BG, prechoruses + choruses as well.)
+ I like your transitions
- Be careful that the typeface you use (Japanese) works for all your kanji, because it might be missing some. Some of the Kanji is in a different typeface.
- The paintsplatters felt slightly out of place.
- Quality/style of the volume graphic also felt out of place.

【・Code M・】東京電脳探偵団

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A0ZOeaIZCw

+ I really liked the art outlines and the way they appeared
+ I also really liked the coloured checker graphics.
+ I like the look of the video that you were going for.
- Sometimes you zoomed in too far and the images/type got pixelated.
- The name parts seemed to be an a style that wasn’t too cohesive to the rest of the video.
- I don’t like how the instrumental break text does not pan in a straight line.

【Flawless Logic】 チェックメイト

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A0ZOeaIZCw

+ Consistent graphical style throughout entire video
+ I liked the fisheye lens parts
+ The spotlight parts were pretty creative.
- Awkward pans
- The same image (The person who started) was moved in similar ways each time it showed up to the point where it got stale
- A bit too much unecessary camera motion.

【KirinHeaven】 メランコリック

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODZBlgo-36o

+ GIRAFFES
+ I think it was really clever how the story is told to match with the scripting. (REALLY CLEVER)
+ I like the overall feel of the video
- The typeface used weren’t the best choices
- Background photos didn’t fit the style of the giraffes/rest of the video
- Intro graphics were a bit awkward.

【TheMoonlitLounge】 Between the Sheets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cx_oNhozXb0

+ I like the soft style of the video
+ Nice use of evolution
+ It’s sparkly
- Graphical style of the symbols and some name plates (wineglasses) were out of place.
- Some of the nametypefaces (the strong one with the blackglow) didn’t fit in well
- Background removal for many of the images were unclean.

【••αкυмє】 Lost Destination

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N40r8SwMSV0

+ I like the textures used
+ I like the background used in the final section a lot. Most cohesive section of the video
+ The portriat graphics were nice.
- Some elements were unecessary and didn’t match the video. (red stripes, silhouettes, audio spectrum)
- Vertical bar graphics with the glowing orange borders didn’t fit the video at all.
- The moving texture stripes at certain parts were really jarring to look at.

【Clockwork☆Chorus】 愛Dee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjwjfFSxfXY

+ The ID/nametag nameplate idea was pretty clever
+ Consistent image set
+ Consistent video theme throughout entire video (Dance floor style)
- Background is a bit TOO static
- English AND Japanese typefaces don’t fit overly well
- The lyrics moving over some images and panning too erratically are sometimes distracting

【Hougako★Delight!】 アイドルを咲かせ！

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpewczjWEos

+ Emulates a dating sim opening perfectly
+ Amazing attention to details (Masking,cutout consistency,etc…)
+ Strong, cohesive transitions
- At some (very few) points, the images are zoomed in too closely and become slightly pixelated
- At some points (the characters in a scene w/ background) the characters moving in relationship to the background a tiny bit awkward
- At one point, when the images are cut and lined up next to one another, some of them overlap onto the image next to them a tiny bit.

【❥不思議ＮＩＮＥ】 ワールズエンド・ダンスホール

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38KtDUOzPf0

+ I really like the graphical style of the video
+ Lots of nice variety
+ I like your graphics
- A lot of the pictures are at different resolutions
- A few images are filtered and others aren’t (not sure if by default) but it creates inconsistency
- Colour balance might help out for some of the brighter images.

【Komorebi】 Perfect Crime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhDOjvmcHRg

+ Tasteful use of particles
+ Good changing of elements to keep the watcher interested
+ I like the dancehall look and the 3D experimentation
- Tree sections feels rather out of place
- Sometimes the images don’t really fit well with the background images used
- Although the background 3D experimentation was valiant, the 2D images rotating on a 3D plane, again look awkward.

【Lilium Album】 Fall Into Unseen Darkness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fooUZXbfu6k

+ I really like the intro graphic a lot.
+ I really like the consistent video ambiences presented throughout the entire video
+ I particularly like some of the textures used (especially the barb wire sections)
- Some of the same animation patterns repeat too often
- Be careful at some of your transitions, I see the vegas-cut-off a few times
- A few of the overlying effects are a bit distracting (not sure if intended)

【Royal☆7】 Mr. Wonderboy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJxMSZRigOw

+ Background elements were put together well
+ Graphical style of solos look good
+ Consistent colour scheme
- Some of the graphics didn’t match the background graphics quality/style (ie. some nameplates in comparison to the brushes/evolution graphics)
- The horizontal cutoff colour checkered backgrounds near the end were slightly jarring to look at.
- Intro section typeface didn’t really fit well.

【Mystic♢Quartz】 夜空色シンパシズム

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KIpar2zxgw

+ I really like the colour changes for the solos
+ Video style fit the song really well
+ Nice choice with the lyric typeface
- Got a teensy bit repetitive at parts
- Sometimes the lyrics were too large and distracting
- For the final chorus, when the images collect together, it feels like it could have been done slightly more dynamically.

【Midnight Charades】 サンドリヨン

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnCtSgD3Wdk

+ Backgrounds were well chosen and pleasant.
+ The white lace was a nice touch
+ I like the partial black and white look
- Lyric typeface did not fit the song or video feel
- The personal graphic to each person did not fit the video style either
- I feel like the actual name tags could have been placed in a slightly different manner

【Bag of Tricks and Treachery】 イカサマ⇔カジノ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfqoukixGSk

+ Clearly displays who’s singing where (Simple and to the point)
+ I like the choice to have different images used as a group near the end
+ I also actually like the brief moment the half faces show up on the screen for split seconds at a time. Those moments were placed well.
- Background style doesn’t really fit the song and feels a bit static at times
- A few of the pans were slightly awkward.
- Nametag typeface does not fit video/art style

【Vanistiana】 Oath Sign to the Borderland

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7E3rGfs2ik

+ I really like the token nametag graphics used at the beginning. (The whole archaic greek themed graphic style/stone background + mosaic tokens were really nice)
+ Trackmatting the audio spectrums to the names were a REALLY clever idea. I’ve never seen that done before! (I actually hope you don’t mind if I try that someday in the future, just so I don’t seem like I’m ripping you off)
+ Graphical styles of both portions of the video were very tasteful
- Motion of some graphics were awkward. (ie, some backgroundstone and token pans in Oath Sign)
- The eye cutouts in Borderland were a bit too simple, and didn’t quite fit into the video
- Spacing for some of the rectangle icons in Borderland could have been evened out a bit more.

-TO BE CONTINUED-

I’ll finish this later when I’m not lazy

Birthday chorus for Jobo-san.

Screenshot of layers and keyframes here.

Promised to make a tutorial, so one’ll be coming up… at some point… whenever I stop dying from homework/exams/animations/life.

In the meantime, I’ve been bored, and I feel like being a jerk giving some constructive criticism for chorus videos. :O

How is this going to work? You’re going to send me a video in my ask box, and I’m going to critique it. A few house rules to keep in mind first.

1. Must be your own video. If you made it with someone else please get their permission as well.

2. My word/opinion is not almighty. I’m just a lowly animator with too much time on their hands and needs a life. What I give you is largely my opinion and what I’ve learned over the course of animating several choruses. I am NOT the best animator out there. I do NOT know everything there is to chorus videos and animating. This is just my opinion and judgement and you are welcome to disagree. This is all only if you want my opinion.

3. Contrary to popular opinion I’m not actually a very nice person. owo;; I’m sorry if what I say may or may not come off as harsh.

4. I forgot all my other points.

5. And yet I’m still numbering this off.

6. I’ll probably add to this later if people actually send stuff in.

But please don’t be afraid to drop your video in my ask box! I’d like to try this out o v o)b*

Why would you want to remove the backgrounds?

Since animation has gotten fancier and fancier as time passes, more and more people are opting for full images with removed backgrounds in their animations. USUALLY the end result is much more satisfying that having icon graphics for the entire thing, however, this can also result in things that don’t look entirely satisfactory… That’s an aesthetic issue that I’ll cover another time.

Another good reason to remove backgrounds is that it helps in making more uniform graphics, rather than relying on and keeping the original backgrounds of the images.

This tutorial is for ANYONE who wants to learn to remove backgrounds, regardless of whether or not you plan to be an animator, because if anything it helps if someone else is able to remove backgrounds and reduce the workload for the animator.

What you need:

You will need some sort of image editing program. There are tonnes of freeware programs on the internet that you can find, GIMP being reputedly handy for those on a small budget.

I prefer to use Photoshop, however many of the tools can be found on other programs, you just need to know where to find them, and how using them differs from that of Photoshop, as most of the examples I will be showing will be done in Photoshop.

Getting started:

It’s as simple as opening your image into your image editing software.

The best thing to do first, is to put your image into a new layer, so there is a background layer underneath.

(forgive my messy writing)

Following that, pick a colour that VASTLY contrasts the colours in the image. For example, this image has a lot of blue, so anything that would look jarringly different comparison would be warm colours. Neon colours USUALLY work too. For this example, I’ll pick red (because I like red). Using this colour, fill the background.

This is so you can much more easily see what you have erased or not.

Methods:

There are several methods when it comes to removing backgrounds, each having their own benefits and drawbacks.

There are two ways that you can go about doing it (That I know at the very least), simple erasing and layer masks. I think I’ll go through layer masks in another tutorial, but it has its benefits especially if you opt for erasing via brushes.

At the same time you want to make a decision on whether you want to remove the backgrounds by way of selection or brushes

Brushes
Using a brush/the eraser tool to erase the background, often by aid of a pen tablet.

Pros:
- Best for use with people accustomed to using tablets to do their work.
- More rounded natural edges.

Cons:
- Not as clean
- Not for the shaky of hand

How to:

I don’t usually do this (actually I never do, because my hand is shaky), but it’s as simple as picking the eraser tool and erasing the background by hand, adjusting the brush size/hardness as you move along.

Personally, I don’t find this method as clean, because sometimes stray pixels undetected by the eyes, or even over a coloured background, goes unmissed. This is actually quite the problem if you intend to apply strokes, or add certain types of effects to the layer.

One way to solve this problem is to add an outer glow or a stroke to the layer. You can do this by double clicking the layer your image is on.

After you pick one, change it to a colour that differs greatly from the background. You can turn the stroke/outer glow’s visibility off at the very end when you’re done, so you don’t have to worry about it ruining your image.

Any extra pixels that you may have missed with immediately be visible, and you can easily go through with an eraser and get rid of those.

The fun part about it is that once you delete the offending little pixels, the stroke around them vanishes, so you know that you got all of it.

Selection
Using a selection tool, in particular, a lasso, to remove the background.

Pros:
- Nice and clean
- For those who don’t have the luxury of owning a tablet

Cons:
- Slow if you’re not used to it
- Difficult to get rounded edges or thin details

How to:

This is actually the method I prefer and am used to, so I can go a little more into depth with this one. Moreover it’s only a TAD bit more complicated than the others.

Firstly you need to familiarize yourself with the lasso tool. It’s a tool you use to make a selection on your image. Once you’ve made your selection, anything you do with on the image will only work within the selected area.

There are 3 types, the regular lasso, the polygonal lasso, and the magnetic lasso.

The regular lasso is a click and hold type. Once you click down your mouse button it activates and as soon as you release it, it will auto close. This is only if you have GOD LIKE STEADY MOUSEHANDS. At this time, I’d be questioning as to why you’re not just using an eraser tool instead. This is NOT an ideal tool to use.

The polygonal activates upon one click, and by clicking somewhere else, you can add anchor points of which the lasso will draw straight lines to. Kind of like connect the dots. You can close your selection either by double clicking, or clicking your starting point. This IS the ideal tool to use.

The magnetic lasso acts like the regular lasso with one GIANT difference. It follows colour contrasts and lines. UNFORTUNATELY it is highly unreliable and therefore NOT an ideal tool to use.

By now, some of you MAY be wondering why I don’t just simply use the MAGIC WAND tool. I mean… IT’S  *~MAGICAL~* isn’t it? Well no. I don’t believe in using it to remove backgrounds mainly because it is also highly unreliable and NOT an ideal tool to use. :’D

So now that we’ve gotten this far, HOW DO YOU use the polygonal lasso to remove backgrounds?

Usually I start by roughly selecting around the image. If you make a mistake, you can ADD to your selection after you close it by holding shift with the lasso selected, or SUBTRACT from it by holding alt with the lasso selected.

The image I’m working on has something else on it. I will actually be REMOVING it, which I’ll talk a little more about later on. So as you can see, I’ve completely ignored it.

Then I delete everything else. How do I do that? Well, if I press the “DELETE” button you’ll find you’ll end up deleting everything you want instead.

So how do you avoid this? You invert your selection. This process deselects everything you have selected and selects everything you haven’t. You can do this two ways. You can go to your top menu and go: Select > Inverse. Or you can just press shift+ctrl+I. NOW you can press delete. Now that you’re done with that you can go Select >Deselect, or simply press ctrl+d.

Lovely!

Now you can zoom in and start chiselling away at the details. A handy little shortcut to know on Photoshop is that if you hold the spacebar, you can use the hand tool to drag around the canvas so you don’t have to constantly move those pesky scrollbars to get around the image while you’re zoomed in.

What I prefer to do is select section by section, and deleting as I go along.

It takes some getting used to for the details, and curved edges. So at this point, I would recommend not choosing images that are too difficult to edit. Hair also seems to be a challenge for most people. I find it helpful to create anchor points that are closer together when going around curved edges like hair, as it makes it a lot less jagged. Do be careful of accidentally double clicking and closing a selection when you don’t intend to, because that’s a really “FFFFFFFFFFF” worthy moment sometimes. :<

Eventually, you’ll get something like this. (hopefully)

At this point you can just toggle the visibility of the background and save it. The format you want to save it in is PNG. As you can see, however, I chose a more complicated image so with the background removed you can see some flaws.

I won’t go into detail here about fixing it, but if you’re well versed at Photoshop, or if you have good drawing(akaMAGICAL) skills like Yanovi-san, you can fix it or draw it in yourself. Only do this if you’re confident that you won’t make it look like someone slapped something garishly ugly and out of place in an attempt to ‘mend’ the image.

Eventually you’ll be able to go from something like this:

To something like this:

:D (not my best though, I got pretty sleepy/lazy as it’s getting late 8D)

I am well aware that I am TERRIBLE at explaining things so please, by all means ask me to elaborate if there is anything you do not understand as this is a tutorial that I HOPE will be able to teach the general YTC populace on how to remove backgrounds which is EXTREMELY handy. I hope this has helped at least a LITTLE. OAO)/

Thanks for reading!

About me:

How old are you?
I recently turned 6 years old on my last birthday (2011) :D In all seriousness, I’d like to keep that information under wraps, thank you very much! :O

Are you a boy or a girl?
I guess it does get a little difficult to figure out sometimes from my voice. At this point, it doesn’t really matter to me what gender you think I am. Pick one. I’d rather keep the actual information to myself and my close friends.

Can I add you on Facebook/Skype/Youtube Friend?
All my information should be on my about page where you can find up near the top, or on my Youtube Profile page.

Where do you live?
Canada.

Hi you’re shota!
Not a question, but this happens far too much to NOT put in here. I understand I sound really young, and that I may not be the most… mature sounding… but… I’m not a shota, and I would appreciate to not have a conversation start with something like that, because I do get that quite a lot as a greeting, and it starts to get slightly old.

Why don’t you share your information?
I’m asked this a lot, and I would just prefer to not give out personal information. This is a personal choice, and I apologize for any dissapointment. However, I prefer if my wishes are respected, and that if I do not give out any further information when asked, to just leave it be at that.

Singing Covers:

What mic do you use?
I steal my sister’s Blue snowball mic. O_O)b

Why do you sound so cute?
I don’t know what you’re talking about.

Can you join my chorus?
Sure, if it’s only to sing for fun. It also depends if I am able to sing the song or not.

Piano Covers:

Why is there so much reverb/How do you record?
That happens when you record like this. In the future I plan to invest in a proper recording set up, but until then, that is what I have to deal with.

How long have you been playing piano/When did you start playing?
I started playing piano in 1st grade until now. Unfortunately, I play no where near as well as I SHOULD be playing and I apologize for that.

Can I get the sheet music to _____?
I haven’t gotten someone asking for this yet, but I know it’s bound to happen. A lot of the sheet music I have is from very random places, so I don’t remember where I get most of it, sorry.

Can you play _____?
Sure, just send me the sheet music and we’ll see if I can learn it. I apologize in advanced if it’s too difficult for me to eventually play, but I’m always up for learning new pieces.

Can you play by ear?
Nope.

Animations:

What program do you use to animate?
I use Adobe After Effects. It’s a pretty hefty program, so I don’t recommend it for slow computers. Moreover, the animating program DOES NOT make the animator. After Effects is powerful only when you know how to use it. A skilled animator can make something just as wonderful in a less powerful program.

How long have you been animating?
I started not long before the YTC chorus battle happened, so just about a year at this point.

Where did you learn to animate?
A good portion of what I learned came with playing around. Having a background in photoshop helped as well. I also occcassionally look up tutorials to learn tips and tools in After Effects.

Can you teach me to animate?
I honestly do not think I have enough skill, or authority to teach anyone how to do anything. What I CAN do is give tips, pointers etc.. Mostly with the aesthetics of the video than anything else. I do plan to write up a tutorial for background removal and video tips in the near future.

Can you animate this for me?
No.

I have far too much on my plate this moment, and unless you are a very good friend of mine, then I apologize, I cannot do it for you.